Fmaj13 guitar chord
An open string left ringing against a fretted grip. Because it costs no finger, it sounds a note the closed shape has none left for -- a tension on top, or a pedal root underneath. Either a familiar grip with open strings added, or a shape so sparse the open strings carry the chord. These belong to their key rather than to a shape, so D, A, G and E have many and Eb a handful.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Fmaj13 — open string voicings
Fmaj13 is F, A, C, E, G and D — Fmaj9 with the thirteenth on top, and the eleventh left out.
It sounds full and wide open. Everything the major scale offers except the eleventh, which is left out because it fights the third.
Tonic — the major sound with most of the scale showing.
Fmaj13 notes and formula
| F | A | C | E | G | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 13 |
Also written FM13, FΔ13 or F major 13. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Fmaj13
An open string left ringing against a fretted grip. It costs no finger, so it can sound a note the closed shape has none left for: a tension on top, or a pedal root underneath.
These belong to their key rather than to a shape: they cannot be moved up the neck. D, A, G and E have many; E♭ has a handful.
Fmaj13 has 6 of them, on strings 6-5-4-3-2-1, strings 5-4-3-2-1 and strings 6-5-4-3-2, from the 2nd fret up to the 6th — every inversion the chord has: A in the bass and E in the bass. The one to learn first is the E shape at the 2nd fret, which is the easiest grip here.
3 of them sit on strings 6-5-4-3-2-1, so you can run the inversions up one set without changing strings — which is the whole reason to learn them as a family rather than as separate grips.
Six notes and four fingers, so something has to go. Keep A and E (they fix the quality) and D and G (what the symbol is about). Let C and F go, in that order — a perfect fifth says nothing the root has not, and in a band the bass has the root.
Play Fmaj13 as a shell — root, third and seventh — and the spare string takes the #11 (B).
All 8 common shapes as fret numbers, lowest string first. Hover or tap one to see it drawn.
- 100010, open position, F, root position, top note E, 4 open strings
- 112231, 1st fret, F, root position, top note F, barred
- xx3230, open position, F, root position, top note E, 1 open string
- x53355, 3rd fret, D, 13th in the bass, top note A, barred
- x87755, 5th fret, F, root position, top note A, all fretted
- x85755, 5th fret, F, root position, top note A, barred
- x-8-8-9-10-10, 8th fret, F, root position, top note D, all fretted
- 13-12-12-12-13-12, 12th fret, F, root position, top note E, barred
How to use Fmaj13
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Fmaj13 is Gm7 to C7 — the ii and the V of F — and C7 shares its third and seventh with Gm7, so the hand barely moves between them.
In which keys. Every note of Fmaj13 belongs to C major (the IV, the subdominant), D minor (the ♭III), F major (the I, the tonic) and A minor (the ♭VI).
What to play over Fmaj13
Every note of Fmaj13 is in F major and F lydian.
Chords near Fmaj13
Change one note of Fmaj13 and you have Fmaj9 (drop the thirteenth), Fmaj11 (the thirteenth becomes the eleventh), F69 (drop the major seventh) or F13 (the major seventh becomes the flat seventh).
Fmaj13 is a major chord — root, major third, fifth. Major chords on every root.
The common shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in how this site is built.